20 LEODICID^ OF THE WEST INDIAN REGION. 



distal to them. The mandible (text-figure 30) has the halves widely separated except 

 at the anterior end, the only color being a dark-brown patch in each half at the point 

 of contact of the two. The beveled surface is marked with concentric lines of a little 

 darker shade than the rest. 



This species lives in narrow tubes formed of stones fastened together by a little 

 organic matter and attached to the under side of stones, shells, etc., in shallow water. 

 In this they resemble L. stigmatura, but the tube is much more delicate than in that spe- 

 cies. It is difficult to remove the animals, for they cling very closely to crevices in the 

 stones and even when put intact in water are apt to break as a result of their own squirm- 

 ing movements. At the Dry Tortugas a few were collected at the landing at Fort 

 Jefferson; in Bermuda I found one near Agar's Island and one in Tucker's Bay. They 

 are common in Montego Bay, Jamaica. 



The type is in the Yale University Museum and was loaned to me by Professor 

 Verrill, but had been dried and is now of little use for study. 



Leodice stigmatura Verrill. 



(Plate 1, figures 10 to 13; text-figures 31 to 40.) 



Leodice stigmatura Verrill, 1900, p. 641. 

 Leodice tenuicirrata Verrill, 1900, p. 643. 



A small species, averaging not more than 75 mm. in length. The one figured had 

 225 somites. They occur in tubes composed of stones and shells loosely fastened 

 together by an organic material, the tubes being much longer than the animals, often 

 extending for considerable distances over the lower surfaces of large stones just below 

 low-water mark. The animals are able to turn freely in the tubes. 



In life (plate 1, figure 10) the anterior end of the animal has a light pearly luster, 

 more or less tinted by the blood in the blood-vessels. The color of the middle and pos- 

 terior regions varies considerably with the condition of the animal. Immature speci- 

 mens appear grayish brown, due to the color of the intestinal wall, while sexually mature 

 individuals show a pinkish tint in the female, due to the contained eggs. The posterior 

 end is colorless. Beginning at the end of the first quarter and extending nearly to the 

 pygidium, each somite has at the base of the parapodium on either side a prominent 

 black spot, while throughout the greater part of the posterior region each somite shows 

 two larger black spots in the middle of the ventral surface. Anteriorly the bright-red 

 gills give a pinkish tinge to the body. 



The prostomium (plate 1, figure 11) is bilobed, though the lobing is not extreme, 

 and the eyes are prominent. The median tentacle is long and slender, more than six 

 times as long as the prostomium and feebly articulated at the end. The inner paired 

 are shorter than the median and not so evidently articulated, while the outer paired 

 are not much more than half as long as the inner and are very markedly articulated. 

 In none of my specimens was the articulation as evident as Verrill has described it, 

 though it is much more noticeable in alcoholic than in living material. 



The peristomium is broader than long (plate 1, figure 11), about twice as long as 

 the second somite. The second somite is colored like the first, its nuchal cirri extending 

 as far as the eyes, and very feebly, if at all, articulated. 



The gills begin as a single filament on the third setigerous somite. In one specimen 

 from the Dry Tortugas this became trifid on the seventh, four-branched on the tenth, 

 and five-branched on the fifteenth. As far as the sixtieth (plate 1, figure 12, taken from 

 this general region) the number of branches vary from 3 to 6, the most frequent number 

 being 4 or 5. Behind the sixtieth somite the number decreases, being one-branched 

 on all behind the ninetieth somite. The number of posterior abranchiate somites seems 

 to vary in different individuals. Verrill states that about 40 are in this condition, but 



